Siege of Suez (1798)

The Siege of Suez (early December 1798) was a battle of the Egyptian Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars that occurred when the 547-strong French army of General Louis Desaix occupied the Egyptian Red Sea port of Suez. The French army laid siege to the city, defended by 509 Mamelukes under Jahangir al-Mukhtar, and he accepted the surrender of the 480-strong garrison while the other 29 Mamelukes (survivors of the Battle of Fayid) fled into the desert. Merchant caravans compensated the French for arriving safely in the city, and Jean-Baptiste Lepere surveyed the remains of the old channel, planning to build the Suez Canal. The funding and prestiege gained by the victory increased the scientific capabilities of France, specifically the Institute d'Egypte, and the French became famous among the intellectual elite of Europe.